Casual staffers outstrip full-time

THE growth in enrolments in Australia’s largest universities has largely been met with casual academics, whose numbers now outstrip permanent staff, according to new research for the LH Martin Institute.

A separate study has also revealed the rate of academic casualisation varies wildly across the sector, from a high of 36 per cent to as low at 5 per cent, based on 2010 government data. The average rate was 21 per cent, up from 20 per cent in 2009.